Government/Politics - 340. page

On January 14, 2008, Study Times, the official publication of the Party School of the Communist Party of China, published an article by Wei-Wei Zhang, Senior Research Fellow at the Modern Asia Research Center in Geneva. The article entitled, “Reflections on Western Democracy,” affirms the current policies of the Communist Party.

Citing the failures of western democracy in developing countries, the article states that China has successfully maintained stability over the past 30 years and that living standards of Chinese people have significantly improved, coupled with a ten-fold increase in the economy. The article suggests that China should first focus on economic and educational development, followed by the rule of law and last by democracy.

Zhang served as senior English interpreter for Deng Xiaoping and other Chinese Communist leaders in the mid-1980s.

The Communist Party’s Central Commission for Inspection and Discipline reported that China will crack down on insider trading by government officials as part of the Party’s renewed effort to limit corruption. Officials and their families who use their positions to profit from insider trading, construction bids, land sales, and trading of property rights will face legal action. Xinhua reported that 25,654 officials were indicted for corruption in 2006 and 23,144 from January to November in 2007. This figure included several high-profile investigations, such as ones that toppled the communist party chief in Shanghai and the former head of the Chinese Food and Drug Administration.

On January 15, 2008, five Mainland scholars issued a joint statement titled, “Declaration of the New Spring Festival Culture.” The scholars expressed in the Declaration that the Chinese Spring Festival in itself symbolizes civilization and freedom and should not be subject to any political, economic or cultural restrictions. The scholars oppose the annual Spring Festival Gala held by the State television network, China Central Televison (CCTV), since that enables the Gala to be used as a propaganda tool to glorify the Communist Party.

The Communist regime re-named the Chinese New Year as the Chinese Spring Festival after its takeover of the Mainland in 1949. Every year, CCTV has a gala as the official State celebration. The Chinese New Year begins on February 7, 2008.

Marxism remains the "guiding ideology" and "fundamental principle" for Chinese Communist Party and "the soul of social ideologies." In March 2007, a professor from the Party School of the Communist Party of China published a paper entitled "Important Issues for Future In-depth Studies on Building a Harmonious Socialist Society." Hu Jintao set forth the goal of a harmonious society at the Party’s Sixth Plenary Session held in October 2006.

The Epoch Times has obtained a copy of the first meeting minutes of the Sydney Chinese Consulate’s "The Special Anti-Falun Gong Working Group," dated February 23, 2001, from Chen Yonglin, the former Chinese Consulate official who defected from China in 2005.

The first part lists items that had been done in the previous 2 weeks. [1]

Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese consulate staff member stationed in Sydney, Australia, arrived in Toronto on June 4 and is currently touring Canada.During press conferences held in Toronto and the Ottawa Parliament, he revealed how the Communist regime controls overseas Chinese communities, infiltrates the media, and sets up traps for western politicians. [1]